25 Lucky Themes
by Exploding Your Universe
Summary: Fall: “Does that mean that Mikk tripped, too? Because his lips were pretty much falling on yours…” - Tyki/Lavi


**25 Lucky Themes  
**A _D. Gray-Man _Fanfiction  
By Exploding Your Universe  
_In need of a Beta_

-

_**Talk **_

The only form of _the birds and the bees_ he'd ever receive was strictly physical.

_**Box **_

Hollow laughter filled the space around him and Lavi slowly backed up as much as he could before he hit the wall behind him. Over head was a solid canopy or he'd been long gone by now. He thrust out his Innocence in front of him with fear in his green eye as a tall and dark enemy approached, an unnatural wide smile plastered to his face. Lavi was trapped, like a rabbit caught under a box-trap, his hunter the wolf.

_**Midnight **_

The mysterious and masked redhead had seemed to be having a wonderful time up until the DJ had announced that it was 11:55 and they had five minutes before New Year's. Then he had seemed a little panicked and wanted to leave, but Tyki couldn't let that happen, not when he thought he may have founda substitute for his heart's desire.

He stepped in front of the costumed prince with his arms out on either side of him. "Where're you going, Cinderella? Masks are about to come off; don't you think you want to know who you were dancing with?" In truth, he just wanted to know if the other's face would suit as a replacement; he already had red hair and green eyes, but everything else was a complete mystery.

The prince shook his head, looking at his feet. "I already know who you are, and I thank you greatly for this chance, but I must be going…" He tried to go through a crowd of superheroes, but Tyki still cut him off, grabbing him by the bicep. A small gasp escaped from the redhead's mouth and he turnedhis head towardsthe taller teenager.

"May I at least know the face or name of my prince for this evening?" Tyki asked sincerely, tone gentle and persuading. After a silent moment, his hand came up and pried at the edges of the redhead's mask, but at the last second the prince'shead jerked away. Tyki didn't try again, but let his hand slidedown the other's arm to take the other's hand in his. "I'm sorry. I should at least respect your wishes, but dance with me one last time, please?" The other nodded with eagerness.

A slow tempo song came on, a new hit amongst students and Tyki easily took the lead. Half of the face on the redhead was visibleand a small smile tilted his lips up, the look so felt nearly guilty for his intentions to try to just use this kind boy as a stand-in. Slowing about two paces below the beat, green eyes looked back at him curiously but he just smiled softly.

"I once heard that if you dance slower it'll make the music last longer." The other made an '_oh_', and very hesitantly laid his head on Tyki's 's arm snuck across his waist as he twirled him in a circle.

The dance lasted three minutes, giving the mystery redhead time to escape before the taking off the masks. Tyki gave a quick kiss on the back of the younger male's hand in appreciation then he disappeared through a crowd of super villains with no looking back. The dark haired teen only sighed with longing. At the twelfth stroke of midnight, Tyki eased off his mask for no one, glancing down from a heavy heart.

A student body card was lying on the floor, the exact kind needed to get into the dance, and it was lying exactly where his mysterious person had been two minutes prior. Gingerly, he picked up and read the name and stared at the picture on the plastic card.

The words _Lavi Marian Bookman_ gleamed at him and Tyki couldn't help the small _whoop_ excitement because his prince was none other than the one he was searching a substitute for.

_**View **_

Smirking cruelly, Tyki picked up the Bookman by the front of his shirt. Weakly, the redhead's hands came and over clasped his own hand to try to pry them off, but attempts were in vain as Tyki didn't allow him to make contact.

"Look at it," he said, motioning around them with his other arm. The Bookman shut his green eye, but Tyki shook him. "_Look at it, Bookman_! This is what you live for, isn't it?" He laughed maliciously when the younger's opening eye began to water at the scene that covered over three miles. Bodies lied without moving. "Recording everything in front of you, yes? Well… you can record the view while you die, then."

The Bookman gasped when Tyki's free hand tightened around his heart.

_**Music **_

With his head propped up on his arm, Lavi listened to the performance. He wasn't looking at the cello being played but the dark haired man with a beauty mark under his left eye. Suddenly, the man lifted his head and looked directly at him among the audience, making Lavi straighten and a blush grace his cheeks. He averted his eye to the instrument instead.

Lavi could have sworn that the tempo changed just slightly to keep in time with the rapid beating in his chest.

_**Silk **_

The scarf that tied his wrist to the bedpost was itchy, but what Tyki was doing with his silky, hot mouth made him forget that the redness was going to be seen by his friends.

_**Promise **_

Promises run dry eventually, Tyki noticed with amusement. Even Lavi's promise to always hate him because they were on opposite sides of the war turned out to be only empty words. A gray hand swept over the red hair, enthralled how the other male would unconsciously lean into his touch even in sleep.

"Hmm…always love…Tyki," Lavi mumbled to his pillow, but Tyki hadalso learned that some promises rang true.

_**Dream **_

The Noah of Pleasure Tyki Mikk has a reoccurring dream. In that dream, the world around him is rather futuristic; hunks of moving tin and metal replaced carriages and horses, buildings grow up to at least two-hundred feet tall, and there are tiny people in boxes. Always in these dreams, however, there's another person with him that he knows as the Exorcist Bookman, Lavi; he expects the dream-him to kill the always-smiling redhead but he never does, and more than once has he _kissed_ him instead.

The Noah doesn't like to sleep and would rather stay up reading to distract his mind from thinking of that certain enemy.

-

The university student Tyki Mikk has a reoccurring dream. In that dream, the world around him is set in the Victorian age, usually somewhere in the countries across the ocean like Great Britain, China, and once there was even Edo Japan. Always in these dreams his family is usually close to him and only rarely there's another person with him that he knows as his boyfriend Lavi; he expects the dream-him to kiss the always-frowning redhead but he never does, and more than once has he tried to _kill_ him instead.

The student doesn't like to sleep and would rather stay up to just stare at his boyfriend to distract his mind from thinking that his dream could be a vision of the past.

_**Silence **_

At any sound the house made Tyki perked with hope that it was his once-lover walking around. However, it was always the silence that answered to his, "Coelho?" Then Tyki's heart proceeded to tear more in sorrow and he'd burry his face in the orange scarf whose owner was as silent as they got.

_**Hero **_

"I'll be your knight in shining armor," Tyki said suddenly one day.

Lavi looked at him and snorted. "How 'bout my Noah in black suit?"

_**Journey **_

Giggling, the young redhead leapt to the next stone and slipped a little. He wiggled to stay balance and the creek's slow current lapped at his ankles. His friend from the orphanage walked along side him on the bank.

"Be careful," his friend warned occasionally and drew out another cigarette. For fifteen the teenager looked mature, especially with the beauty mark under his eye.

He giggled again. "Don't worry, I…" he trailed and after he moved to another rock he crouched low to the water's surface. There was something in there… Without hesitation and with the curiosity of a child, he rolled up his poncho to his shoulder and plunged his hand in the water. He bit his lip against the cold.

His friend stopped walking and turned to him. "What are you doing?" The little boy ignored him as his fingers grazed the top of something that didn't feel like moss or a rock. Seeing no other choices than to actually step into the stream to reach it, he gingerly let the chilly water swallow his knees. From the edge, the older boy cried out. "Hey! You'll get a cold like that!"

"There's…something…" he grunted and pulled at a smooth end but the rest of it was stuck under a rock, yet with a hard yank he ended up on his bottom in the creek. His humiliation didn't go unrewarded; in his fist laid a small, hammer-shaped…object. It looked more like a toy so he decided it would be such.

The friend hopped across stones to reach him and outstretched his hand to help the little redhead. "You're full of surprises, coelho." He glanced at the clenched fist. "What's—" He couldn't finish his sentence because a stabbing pain throbbed in his head quite suddenly.

"Tyki?" the redhead quietly asked. "Are you alright?"

Blinking through the pain, the teen nodded. "Yeah… Just fine, coelho." He winced but reoffered his hand. "Come on, let's go find your grandfather."

Grinning, he nodded enthusiastically and grabbed his hand with his own free one. Upon standing, he shivered. "Though he'll find us before we find him," he said mysteriously. His friend learned to not ask questions anymore, so he just agreed and rubbed at his forehead.

_**Mask **_

"Lavi" was only one mask from a total of forty-nine. Tyki doesn't like to think it that way so he believes while he's the one with identity issues, Lavi's only hiding behind the eyepatch.

_**Fall **_

"Lavi, we saw the two of you kiss–"

"No! What you _saw_ was me falling! I tripped and fell!" Lavi threw out his hands, exasperated. Already he could feel the stares and hear the gossip about the accident that happened between third and forth block. There were biting comments, too, but those were spread by the envious female students of the school. Lavi avoided eating the served hot lunch today.

While Kanda harrumphed and leaned against the lockers, Allen looked skeptically at him. "You _tripped_ and _fell_ on Tyki Mikk." Lenalee giggled behind her hand, but the redheaded junior nodded fiercely.

"On his _lips_," Kanda said. "Does that mean that Mikk tripped, too? Because his lips were pretty much _falling_ on yours…"

"No! It wasn't like that!" Lavi cried out. He looked to his last hope desperately. "You understand it, right, Lenalee?"

The Chinese girl nodded slowly. "I believe you, Lavi." Kanda and Allen didn't say anything but spared each other a glance of doubt.

"Oh, I knew God was a woman!" Lavi praised.

"You've been falling for a while now."

The redhead nodded. "Exactly! I knew – …eh?" Having just understood what she said, he tilted his head curiously at her and his green eye narrowed suspiciously. "…what do you mean by that?"

"That you fell for Tyki Mikk, the number one wanted Senior in the school."

"…don't you mean _on_ not _for_?"

She went on like she never heard him. "And, from what it looked like to me, he's been falling, too. Possibly longer than you have…"

_**Forgotten**_

Eaze can't help but feel a little left out when Lavi comes to visit Tyki. Though when he sees the dejected look in the teen's green eye when he calls his friend for a small favor, he has to remind himself that the redhead only comes once a month. If Eaze and Lavi both longed for Tyki's attention, it made the blonde boy wonder how forgotten Lavi felt when Tyki wasn't around.

_**Body **_

Tyki gently pulled the Exorcist's sleeping form closer to him, noticing what Lavi had voiced a few hours before that point. The younger male's body fitted against his evenly; he shifted slightly to wrap an arm around Lavi's waist. Compared to Tyki, Lavi's frame showed their age differences in height and size. With sleep murmured babble, the redhead's small hand moved to cover his and the Portuguese man saw the calloused joints from the Bookman's duty to record while his own were large and smooth. Tyki's natural skin tone wasn't drastically different from Lavi's pale flesh, but… The older man allowed his Noah through and the contrast then with the Noah gray was nearly scary.

The Pleasure didn't try to think too hard on it; this was the only night they became like this and it was most definitely the last. The warm body snuggled against him was too risky to chance again during the war. Willing himself back to sleep, Tyki decided to keep his black side up for when the Exorcist awoke. Maybe then Lavi would realize they were a lot more different than just bodily appearances.

_**Sacred **_

The boy who believed in no God acted as an angel to the Noah when he stepped in front of the samurai's killing blow to protect him. Tyki thought he might have found religion.

_**Formal**_

"Do you think white would be too formal?" Lavi asked his maid in honor, looking up from his wedding plans. Lenalee looked suspicious at him with a certain lift to the lips.

"Would white even be the right colour for all the times Tyki snuck you off to an empty room?"

_**Fever **_

With each roll of hips into the Exorcist's eager body, Tyki felt hotter. Half lidded dark eyes scanned the flushed face under his and he could tell he wasn't alone in this sickness.

_**Lies **_

They were enemies so the Noah of Pleasure Tyki Mikk didn't mischievously decide to lean forward one day and give a location to the Exorcist Lavi. Because he doesn't do this means that the redhead's curiosity doesn't will him to said location. There was no way the apprentice Bookman could have been treated to his first intimate experience since he never went to the unasked invitation that never crossed Tyki's mind.

Since the first night never happens, the second one to follow doesn't exist either, nor the third, or the three more to come after that. If it were to happen, hypothetically speaking, then Tyki wouldn't have been the first one to form something _akin_ to attraction to the younger male. Therefore he wouldn't have any urge to stalk Lavi at a carnival when Miss Li forces him out because Tyki only happens to be there by chance, reading the newspaper in his white persona. Given that he never stalks him and is just casually reading the Times, means that he doesn't see Miss Li's attempt to kiss the older teen. In fact, Tyki's so engrossed with the shopping article that he doesn't hear the sigh escape from Lavi as he pulls back to give an apology to the beautiful girl. The victory cheer inside never happens, unless he was cheering that men's tailored coats were half price.

Lavi has never asked Tyki to come spend a late night at the Black Order, and because it's never been asked Tyki can not definitely notice Walker open the Bookman Junior's door just a crack to find out what in the world is making Lavi scream like that. This most surely won't ever happen thus Allen will not ever see his friend kiss the Black Order's foe a little longer than necessary. Allen won't see Tyki raise Lavi's hips, hear the whine escape from him in result, and detect the soft, golden eyes Tyki would use on the redhead. Allen is an angelic creature.

Tyki is a well-hated enemy among the Exorcists so Lavi doesn't try to accidently miss when on the battlefield, away from the bedroom – but that still hadn't taken place before and won't ever. He doesn't try to distract Yu when he and the Pleasure are blade to blade because that wouldn't be just as a neutral bystander in a war. Lavi doesn't get dust in his eye and loose sight of the Noah.

Because they lead simple lives like any other, Tyki wouldn't dare risk his life to ravish the redheaded teen when his niece is only a couple streets away shopping for candy because that'd seriously be stupid and hardly worth the consequences that would be sure to come. Since they most definitely aren't considering themselves as lovers, the word _love_ isn't it their vocabulary when thinking of the other, and it positively, absolutely, under any circumstances whatsoever, could never slip from Lavi's lips when Tyki doesn't kiss him passionately.

_**Whisper **_

There's a tormented sound from Tyki's past that begs Lavi to take off his eyepatch to glance in his history, but Lavi respects his lover's privacy and knows Tyki would tell him in time.

_**Eclipse **_

Green eyes widened almost fearfully yet wondrously at the demon standing on the surface of the planet underneath the black hole. The edge of the black hole was aflame. In zero gravity, the smirking demon beckoned to him to come out of the station, and Lavi's hand reached out to possibly grab the other's hand beyond the glass separating them.

"…he will bathe in the black sun," he quoted from the ancient writing in a whisper to himself, staring at the beautiful sight. The tall gray demon went his way slowly, hand still out reached for the redheaded human, and when he came upon the glass barrier he stopped only momentarily. Then, the demon's whole arm sank through the glass and his fingers wrapped around Lavi's wrist and pulled him forward. Panicking now, Lavi tried to wrench free before he was yanked into space, but two gray hands were upon him now, tugging on his shoulders.

When he was being particularly stubborn, his face still refusing to meet the front of his body on the planet's surface, the demon drew him back in and had his head poke through as well. Half of the demon's face was covered by a silver and black mask that looked delicate to the touch if it had not been for the sharp horn protruding from the center of it.

The demon spoke, his voice deep and smooth and surprisingly soft despite his nature. "Do not be afraid, human; you will breathe."

Lavi swallowed nervously, heart egging him to go on but logic telling him it couldn't be so. "I shouldn't…" But even as he continued with denying statements, his legs, shaking hard, started forward as the creature led back outside through the air-sealed walls. The redhead made a scared mewling sound. "Please don't…"

"When He wakes, He will bathe in the black sun," the demon said as he began to sink beyond the barrier, but it was said in the ancient tongue Lavi had devoted to decode and learn. "He will choose one of three stranded underneath the hole of space and time; They will live for the countless eclipses to come and watch as the galaxies turn to dust." The human instinctively took a large intake of air and held in as he finally took a step on the planet's deserted surface.

Immediately he felt the oxygen ripping away from him alarmingly fast through his nostrils and it didn't help when he opened his mouth for air. There was nothing left for him to breathe. With the last bit of strength he had, his hand gripped the demon's arm, eyes glassy when the other hovered over him. Then suddenly he was as alive as ever, and he gasped, inhaling sharply. Lavi's eyes focused on the source of his survival, but nearly tore away when he realized that he was lip-locked with the demon. Then again…oxygen had never been so sweet.

_**Gravity **_

The laws of gravity never applied to Tyki since he had the Noah with him, yet when he heard the frightened screams of his lover fighting with Wisely it was the only time he'd been sent crashing to Earth.

_**Unknown **_

Lavi's thoughts often drift to the unknown future; will he live to see his next birthday, or to Yu and Allen's wedding? If Lenalee will ever be allowed to date, or if the Exorcists will win this war. What would be the outcome of the world if either side won? How would the final battle play out? As his ability to play two roles in the war, would he be able to live as a Bookman if the Noahs ended up winning?

These questions and more kept him awake at night on regular basis, enough to where Tyki knows to wake up from a deep slumber to help his boyfriend fall asleep.

_**Lock **_

On the door to Lavi's dorm came a carefully measured knock but the redheaded occupant ignored it, having the sinking feeling he knew who it was. His suspicions were confirmed when the person in the hall called to him.

"Lavi? Are you in there?" Professor Mikk asked. "Mr. Walker seemed really worried when he asked me to come and check on you… You've been missing my history lessons, too…" Tyki Mikk was honestly the last person he wanted here, Lavi thought tiredly and banged his head on the door to show that he was in fact inside. And that's where he'll stay to save face – inside, while Mikk was outside.

"Are you hurt, Lavi?" Professor Mikk asked, and Lavi nearly flinched at the concern in his tone. Not that… The handle jiggled, but Lavi didn't care of it. "Lavi, can you unlock the door, please? I want to see that you're alright!"

Lavi gritted his teeth and retorted. "No, no, and I'm perfectly fine so fuck off!"

Professor Mikk was silent for a moment, but when he spoke next he sounded furious. "Mr. Bookman. Open the door _now_ or I'll call security on suspicion that you're hiding something illegal."

Flipping to sit on his knees, Lavi gaped at the door and banged his fist on it. "I am not, and you know it!"

"What do I know? You won't let me in! Unlock the door, Lavi, and tell me what's wrong!" Tyki shouted. Lavi clawed at the door, hitting his forehead against it with a small sound. "I can't let you, Professor Mikk…"

He heard the Portuguese college professor give a long sigh. "I've told you before, Lavi; please call me Tyki outside of the classroom." The door received a slight bump against the wood, then the sound of something down the length of it made Lavi believe that Tyki was now sitting outside his door. The redhead swallowed a lump.

"Why should I, again?"

"…because it's what friends do." The older man returned softly. Something poked his hand and Lavi looked down to see the olive fingers stretching as far as they could under the door jam. "Let me in, please? Don't lock yourself up like this – it's scaring your friends; Mr. Walker, Miss Li, and hell Mr. Kanda, too."

Lavi's finger hesitantly touched the other hand. "And you, then? If you're my friend did I scare you, too…Tyki?" To use his teacher's name felt so intimate and he liked it, but what if the man outside the door found out what he was thinking? Lavi inched his hand away from the one trying to come underneath the door.

"I'm worried, yes." The larger index finger curled as much as the space underneath the door allowed and wrapped around Lavi's own finger loosely.

The redhead stared at their joined fingers and swallowed a knot in his throat. "I-I'm sorry, I'll open the door." He stood and unlocked the door and he barely had enough time to actually pull it open when long arms wrapped themselves around him and drew him tightly close. Surprised, Lavi gasped and almost tried to break free but decided against it quickly because it was exactly what he wanted even if it wasn't what Professor Mikk was aiming for.

Another moment before he spoke again. "…don't lock yourself away from me, Lavi. Please." The redheaded student buried his face in the gray suit, nodding and blinking away tears furiously. He'll have to lock this secret away, at least, deep inside where even Tyki's prying words won't find because he wouldn't be anything more than a friend to him. And unbeknownst to him, that was exactly what Professor Tyki Mikk was thinking, as well.

_**Breathe**_

When Lavi breathes in, it's always full of tobacco smoke. He believes that someday he'll die from secondhand smoking, but that day will be long off because he believes even more firmly that the day he stops inhaling it will be the day he dies.


End file.
